Present day commercial aircraft are traditionally configured with a food and beverage preparation area, commonly referred to as a galley, for service of the passengers and crew. The galley incorporates various types of equipment for the storage, preparation, and disposal of food and drink, such as refrigeration units, heaters, ovens, beverage brewing machines, and the like. Flight attendants work within the galley to provide passengers with amenities such as beverages, snacks, and on longer flights, meals. As with all aircraft equipment, today's aircraft galleys strive to be examples of efficiency and conservation of weight and space. Every component of the aircraft galley must abide by these principles, and be both compact and efficient but retain functionality and convenience. All of the equipment must also be arranged in a manner which is both ergonomic and efficient for the allotted space.
It is common among a growing number of commercial airlines to provide a station where passengers can serve themselves certain items, such as a cooler with soft drinks and a shelf for snacks. An example of this system can be incorporated into a double refrigeration unit within the galley that has one side for soft drinks and one side for food storage, or storage of wines and beers. Passengers may help themselves to the soft drinks and snacks, but not the controlled alcoholic products. One issue with this system is that it requires that passengers be granted access to the galley, which is problematic to the flight attendants. Having passengers in the galley presents both safety concerns as there are equipment such as boilers and other apparatus that could burn or injure a passenger, and security concerns where passengers can pilfer restricted items in the galley when no one is looking.
To eliminate the requirement that passengers be allowed in the galley, many airlines have created a cooler that is outside the galley, such as in the walkway aisle adjacent the galley. The cooler can be loaded with soft drinks and snacks, and the passengers can retrieve them without entering the galley or disturbing the flight attendants. However, such systems either require their own chilling system, or require ducting from a main chilling system to the separate auxiliary cooler. Both the of these solutions add weight to the aircraft, efficiency deficits due to losses in the ducting, and configuration problems connecting the cooler to the main chilling system.
While the dual refrigeration units provide economy in that a separate refrigeration unit is not required for the passengers' self service station, the security issue that arises when passengers have access to the main refrigeration unit (where non-gratis products such as wines and beers are also stored) makes this an unsatisfactory solution. Passengers can reach into the refrigeration unit and pilfer some products that are reserved for other passengers or for which a separate charge is associated. Currently there is no method by which the economy of a single refrigeration unit is provided that includes a passenger self-service window, but limits the access of the passengers within the refrigerator unit to a selected area where only complementary products are within reach.